As a hereditary constitutional monarchy system, the role and operation of Belgium's monarchy is governed by the Constitution. The royal office of King is designated solely for a descendant of the first King of the Belgians, Leopold I.

Since he is bound by the Constitution (above all other ideological and religious considerations, political opinions and debates and economic interests) the King is intended to act as an arbiter and guardian of Belgian national unity and independence.[2] Belgium's monarchs are inaugurated in a purely civil swearing-in ceremony.

Louis Wodon (the chef de cabinet of Leopold III from 1934 to 1940), thought the King's oath to the Constitution implied a royal position "over and above the Constitution". He compared the King to a father, the head of a family, "Regarding the moral mission of the king," said Arango, "it is permissible to point to a certain analogy between his role and that of a father, or more generally, of parents in a family. The family is, of course, a legal institution as is the state. But what would a family be where everything was limited among those who compose it to simply legal relationships? In a family when one considers only legal relationships one comes very close to a breakdown in the moral ties founded on reciprocal affection without which a family would be like any other fragile association"[12] According to Arango, Leopold III of Belgium shared these views about the Belgian monarchy.

In 1991, towards the end of the reign of Baudouin, Senator Yves de Wasseige, a former member of the Belgian Constitutional Court, cited four points of democracy which the Belgian Constitution lacks:[13]

the King chooses the ministers,

the King is able to influence the ministers when he speaks with them about bills, projects and nominations,

The Belgian monarchy was from the beginning a constitutional monarchy, patterned after that of the United Kingdom.[14] Raymond Fusilier wrote the Belgian regime of 1830 was also inspired by the French Constitution of the Kingdom of France (1791-1792), the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 and the old political traditions of both Walloon and Flemish provinces.[15] "It should be observed that all monarchies have suffered periods of change as a result of which the power of the sovereign was reduced, but for the most part those periods occurred before the development of the system of constitutional monarchy and were steps leading to its establishment."[16] The characteristic evidence of this is in Great Britain where there was an evolution from the time when kings ruled through the agency of ministers to that time when ministers began to govern through the instrumentality of the Crown.

Unlike the British constitutional system, in Belgium "the monarchy underwent a belated evolution" which came "after the establishment of the constitutional monarchical system"[17] because, in 1830-1831, an independent state, parliamentary system and monarchy were established simultaneously. Hans Daalder, professor of political science at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden wrote: "Did such simultaneous developments not result in a possible failure to lay down the limits of the royal prerogatives with some precision - which implied that the view of the King as the Keeper of the Nation, with rights and duties of its own, retained legitimacy?" [18]

For Raymond Fusilier, the Belgian monarchy had to be placed - at least in the beginning - between the regimes where the king rules and those in which the king does not rule but only reigns. The Belgian monarchy is closer to the principle "the King does not rule" [19] But the Belgian kings were not only "at the head of the dignified part of the Constitution".[20] The Belgian monarchy is not merely symbolic, because it participates in directing affairs of state insofar as the King's will coincides with that of the ministers, who alone bear responsibility for the policy of government.[21] For Francis Delpérée, to reign does not only mean to preside over ceremonies but also to take a part in the running of the State.[22] The Belgian historian Jean Stengers wrote that "some foreigners believe the monarchy is indispensable to national unity. That is very naive. He is only a piece on the chessboard, but a piece which matters.[23]

The proper title of the Belgian monarch is King of the Belgians rather than King of Belgium. The title indicates a popular monarchy linked to the people of Belgium (i.e., a hereditary head of state; yet ratified by popular will), whereas King of Belgium would indicate standard constitutional or absolute monarchy linked to territory or state.[1] For example, in 1830, King Louis Philippe was proclaimed King of the French rather than King of France. The Greek monarch was titled King of the Hellenes, indicating a personal link with the people, not just the state. Moreover, the Latin translation of King of Belgium would have been Rex Belgii, which, from 1815, was the name for the King of the Netherlands. Therefore, the Belgian separatists (i.e. the founders of Belgium) chose Rex Belgarum.[2]

Belgium is the only current European monarchy that does not apply the tradition of the new monarch automatically ascending the throne upon the death or abdication of the previous monarch. According to Article 91 of the Belgian constitution, the monarch accedes to the throne only upon taking a constitutional oath before a joint session of the two Houses of Parliament.[24] The joint session has to be held within ten days of the death of the deceased or abdicated king. The new Belgian monarch is required to take the Belgian constitutional oath, "I swear to observe the Constitution and the laws of the Belgian people, to maintain the national independence and the integrity of the territory," which is uttered in the three official languages: French, Dutch, and German.

Members of the Belgian royal family are often known by two names: a Dutch and a French one. For example, the current monarch is called 'Philippe' in French and 'Filip' in Dutch; the fifth King of the Belgians was 'Baudouin' in French and 'Boudewijn' in Dutch.

In contrast to King Philippe's title of "King of the Belgians", Princess Elisabeth is called "Princess of Belgium" as the title "Prince of the Belgians" does not exist. She is also Duchess of Brabant, the traditional title of the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. This title precedes the title "Princess of Belgium".

In the other official language of German, monarchs are usually referred to by their French names. The same is true for English with the exception of Leopold, where the accent is removed for the purpose of simplicity.

Because of the First World War and the resultant strong anti-German sentiment, the family name was changed in 1920 from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to van België, de Belgique, or von Belgien ("of Belgium"), depending upon which of the country's three official languages (Dutch, French, and German) is in use. It is this family name which is used on the identity cards and in all official documents by Belgium's royalty (e.g. marriage licenses). In addition to this change of name, the armorial bearings of Saxony were removed from the Belgian royal coat of arms (see above). Other Coburgers from the multi-branched Saxe-Coburg family have also changed their name, such as George V, who adopted the family name of Windsor after the British royal family’s place of residence.[25]

The Belgian monarchy symbolises and maintains a feeling of national unity by representing the country in public functions and international meetings.

In addition, the monarch has a number of responsibilities in the process of the formation of the Government. The procedure usually begins with the nomination of the "Informateur" by the monarch. After the general election the Informateur officially informs the monarch of the main political formations which may be available for governance. After this phase, the monarch can appoint another "informateur" or appoint a "Formateur", who will have the charge of forming a new government, of which he or she generally becomes the Prime Minister.

The Constitution of Belgium entrusts the monarch with federal executive powers: the appointment and dismissal of ministers, the implementation of the laws passed by the Federal Parliament, the submission of bills to the Federal Parliament and the management of international relations. The monarch sanctions and promulgates all laws passed by Parliament. In accordance with Article 106 of the Belgian Constitution, the monarch cannot act without the countersignature of the responsible minister, who in doing so assumes political responsibility. This means that federal executive power is exercised in practice by the Federal Government, which is accountable to the Chamber of Representatives in accordance with Article 101 of the Constitution.

The monarch receives the prime minister at the Palace of Brussels at least once a week, and also regularly calls other members of the government to the palace in order to discuss political matters. During these meetings, the monarch has the right to be informed of proposed governmental policies, the right to advise, and the right to warn on any matter as the monarch sees fit. The monarch also holds meetings with the leaders of all the major political parties and regular members of parliament. All of these meetings are organised by the monarch's personal political cabinet which is part of the Royal Household.

The monarch is the Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian Armed Forces and makes appointments to the higher positions. The names of the nominees are sent to the monarch by the Ministry of Defence. The monarch's military duties are carried out with the help of the Military Household which is headed by a General office. Belgians may write to the monarch when they meet difficulties with administrative powers.

The monarch is also one of the three components of the federal legislative power, in accordance with the Belgian Constitution, together with the two chambers of the Federal Parliament: the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. All laws passed by the Federal Parliament must be signed and promulgated by the monarch.

Article 88 of the Belgian Constitution provides that "the King's person is inviolable, his ministers are responsible". This means that the King cannot be prosecuted, arrested, or convicted of crimes, cannot be summoned to appear before a civil court, and is not accountable to the Federal Parliament. This inviolability was deemed incompatible, however, with Article 27 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which states that official capacity shall not exempt a person from criminal responsibility under the statute.[26]

The Court still keeps some old traditions, most famous is the tradition that the Reigning King of the Belgians becomes the Godfather of the 7th Son and the Queen the Godmother of the 7th daughter.[27] the Child is then given the name of the Sovereign and receives a gift from the palace and lord Mayor of the city.[28] Another tradition is the centuries old ceremonial welcome the new king receives in the country during the Joyous Entry. this tradition goes back to the dukes of Brabant.

The King's Household (Dutch: Het Huis van de Koning, French: La Maison du Roi, German: Das Haus des Königs) was reorganised in 2006, and consists of seven autonomous departments and the Court's Steering Committee. Each Head of Department is responsible for his department and is accountable to the King.

The following departments currently make up the King's Household:

the Department for Economic, Social and Cultural Affairs

the King's Cabinet

the King's Military Household

the King's Civil List

the Department for Foreign Relations

the Department of the Protocol of the Court

the Department of Petitions

The King's Chief of Cabinet is responsible for dealing with political and administrative matters and for maintaining the relations with the government, trade unions and industrial circles. In relation to the King, the Chief assists in keeping track of current events; informs regarding all aspects of Belgian life; proposes and prepares audiences; assists in preparing speeches and informs the King about developments in international affairs. The Chief of Cabinet is assisted by the Deputy and Legal Adviser, the Press Adviser and the Archivist. The incumbent Chief of Cabinet is Baron Frans Van Daele, former Chief of Cabinet of President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde wave to the crowds in Brussels after Philippe's swearing in as the new Belgian monarch, 21 July 2013.

The Head of the King's Military Household assists the King in fulfilling his duties in the field of defence. He informs the King about all matters of security, defence policy, the views of Belgium's main partner countries and all aspects of the Belgian Armed Forces. He organises the King's contacts with the Armed Forces, advises in the fields of scientific research and police and coordinates matters with patriotic associations and former service personnel. The Military Household is also responsible for managing the Palace's computer system. The Head of the Military Household is a General Officer, currently GeneralJef Van den put and assisted by an adviser, currently Lieutenant-ColonelAviatorSerge Vassart. The King's Aides-de-Camp and the King's Equerries are also attached to the Military Household.

The King's aides-de-camp are senior officers chosen by the monarch and charged with carrying out certain tasks on his behalf, such as representing him at events. The King's Equerries are young officers who take turns preparing the King's activities, informing him about all the aspects that may be important to him and providing any other useful services such as announcing visitors. The equerry accompanies the King on his trips except for those of a strictly private nature.

The Intendant of the King's Civil List is responsible for managing the material, financial and human resources of the King's Household. He is assisted by the Commandant of the Royal Palaces, the Treasurer of the King's Civil List and the Civil List Adviser. The Intendant of the Civil List also advises the King in the field of energy, sciences and culture and administers the King's hunting rights. The Commandant of the Royal Palaces is mainly in charge, in close cooperation with the Chief of Protocol, of the logistic support of activities and the maintenance and cleaning of the Palaces, Castles and Residences. He is also Director of the Royal Hunts.

The Chief of Protocol is charged with organising the public engagements of the King and the Queen, such as audiences, receptions and official banquets at the Palace, as well as formal activities outside of the Palace. He is assisted by the Queen's Secretary, who is mainly responsible for proposing and preparing the Queen's audiences and visits.

The Head of the Department for Economic, Social and Cultural Affairs advises the King in the economic, social and cultural fields. He is also responsible for providing coordination between the various Households and Services and for organising and minuting the meetings of the Steering Committee. The Head of the Department for Foreign Relations informs the King of developments in international policy, assists the King from a diplomatic viewpoint on royal visits abroad and prepares the King's audiences in the international field. He is also responsible for maintaining contacts with foreign diplomatic missions. The Head of the Department of Petitions is charged with processing petitions and requests for social aid addressed the King, the Queen or other members of the royal family. He is also responsible for the analysis and coordination of royal favours and activities relating to jubilees, and advises the King in the fields for which he is responsible.

For the personal protection of the King and the royal family, as well as for the surveillance of the royal estates, the Belgian Federal Police at all times provides a security detail to the Royal Palace, commanded by a chief police commissioner. The other members of the royal family have a service at their disposal.

Members of the royal family hold the title Prince (Princess) of Belgium with the style of Royal Highness. Prior to World War I they used the additional titles Prince (Princess) of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke (Duchess) of Saxony as members of the House of Wettin.

Those entitled to the title of Prince or Princess of Belgium by the royal decree of 14 March 1891 were all legitimate male-line descendants of Leopold I. This was repealed in the royal decree of 2 December 1991 wherein it was stated that all descendants of Albert, Prince of Liege where entitled to the title of Prince or Princess of Belgium. In 2015, a royal decree further limited those entitled to be prince or princesses of Belgium as children and grandchildren of the monarch and crown prince or princess.[31] Prior to this, all descendants of Albert II were entitled to the title of prince or princess.[32]

HM King Albert II (born 6 June 1934). He was the king between 1993 (following the death of his brother King Baudouin) and 21 July 2013, the Belgian National Day, when he abdicated in favour of his son Philippe, Duke of Brabant, because of ill health. On 2 July 1959 he married Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria (born 11 September 1937) in Brussels, who was created HRH Princess Paola of Belgium, Princess of Liège a day before their wedding, and after 1993, became Queen Paola of the Belgians. She is the daughter of Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda (1884-1946) and his wife, Luisa Gazelli dei Conti di Rossana e di Sebastiano (1896–1989). Together they have three children, the current king (see above), a daughter and another son:

HI&RH Princess Astrid, Archduchess of Austria-Este (born 5 June 1962). She is the wife of HI&RH Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, whom she married on 22 September 1984 and who was created a prince of Belgium in 1995. Princess Astrid, with her own descendants, is before her brother Laurent in the order of succession to the Belgian throne, due to the 1991 act of succession mentioned above. They have five children:

HRH Prince Laurent of Belgium (born 19 October 1963). He married Claire Coombs, an Anglo-Belgian former land surveyor, on 12 April 2003, who was created HRH Princess Claire of Belgium 11 days before their wedding. They have one daughter and two sons:

HRH Princess Marie-Christine, Mrs Gourgues (born 6 February 1951). She is the eldest daughter of Leopold III and Lilian, Princess of Réthy, half-sister of both Kings Baudouin and Albert II and half-aunt of King Philippe. Her first marriage, to Paul Drucker (Toronto, Ontario, 1 November 1937 – 1 April 2008) in Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, Florida, on 23 May 1981, lasted 40 days (though they weren't formally divorced till 1985); she subsequently married Jean-Paul Gourges in Los Angeles, California, on 28 September 1989.

1.
Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German

2.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth

3.
Coat of arms of Belgium
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The coat of arms of Belgium bears a lion or, known as Leo Belgicus, as its charge. A royal decree of 17 March 1837 determines the achievement to be used in the greater, the shield is emblazoned, Sable, a lion rampant or, armed and langued gules. It is surmounted by a helmet with raised visor, with mantling or and sable, behind the shield are placed a hand of justice and a sceptre with a lion. The grand collar of the Order of Leopold surrounds the shield, two lions guardant proper support the shield as well as a lance with the national colours black, yellow and red. Underneath the compartment is placed the motto Lunion fait la force in French or Eendracht maakt macht in Dutch, the riband of the motto is red, with black stripes on either side. Since the Royal Decree of 1837 never received an official translation, the whole is placed on a red mantle with ermine lining and golden fringes and tassels, ensigned with the royal crown. Above the mantle rise banners with the arms of the nine provinces that constituted Belgium in 1837 and they are Antwerp, West Flanders, East Flanders, Liège, Brabant, Hainaut, Limburg, Luxembourg and Namur. The greater arms are used only rarely and they adorn the great seal that is affixed to laws and international treaties. Since the province of Brabant was split into Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Brussels in 1995, the changes made to the arms of the Flemish provinces as a result of this decision are not reflected in the great seal either. The lesser coat of arms consists of the shield, the crown, the crossed sceptres, the collar of the Order of Leopold. The newly independent Kingdom of Belgium decided to base its coat of arms and these came into being after the Southern Netherlands threw off Austrian rule. It existed as an independent polity from January to December 1790, the Duchy of Brabant had taken the lead in the so-called Brabant Revolution, the insurrection against Emperor Joseph II, and afterwards dominated the United Netherlandish States. Therefore, the Lion of Brabant came to stand for the entire federation, the crown stood for sovereignty, the sword for the war against Spain and the arrows for the concord and unity among the rebellious provinces. At first the lion of the Republic of the United Provinces had the Brabant colours or on sable, the Dutch Revolt likewise provided the motto Unity Makes Strength. The inscription of the seal of 1578 reads Concordia res parvae crescunt, soon Dutch sources used the translation Eendracht maekt magt. The United States of Belgium of 1790 used the Latin version In Unione Salus and their motto was in turn taken over and translated into French by the Kingdom of Belgium in 1831. It was only in 1958 that it was decided that the official Dutch translation should read Eendracht maakt macht, les origines du sceau de lEtat belge, in, Roger Harmignies, ed. Sources de lhéraldique en Europe occidentale, 201-225, wapens van de Nederlanden, De historische ontwikkeling van de heraldische symbolen van Nederlanden, België, hun provincies en Luxemburg

4.
Philippe of Belgium
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Philippe is the seventh king of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013, following his fathers abdication. He is the eldest child of King Albert II, whom he succeeded upon Alberts abdication for health reasons and he married Countess Mathilde dUdekem dAcoz, with whom he has four children. King Philippes elder daughter, Princess Elisabeth, is next in the line of succession, Philippe was born on 15 April 1960 during the reign of his uncle, King Baudouin of Belgium. His father, Prince Albert, Prince of Liège was the son of King Leopold III of Belgium. His mother, Paola, Princess of Liège, is a daughter of Italian aristocrat Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda. His mother descends from the French House of La Fayette, and he was born at the Belvédère Castle in Laeken north of Brussels. He was baptised one month later at the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels on 17 May and his godparents were his paternal grandfather, King Leopold III, and his maternal grandmother, Donna Luisa, Princess Ruffo di Calabria. From 1978 to 1981, Philippe was educated at the Belgian Royal Military Academy in the 118th Promotion Toutes Armes, on 26 September 1980, he was appointed second lieutenant and took the officers oath. He continued his education at Trinity College, Oxford and he attended school at Stanford University, California. He obtained his pilots wings and his certificates as a parachutist. In 1989, he attended a series of sessions at the Royal Higher Defence Institute. The same year, he was promoted to Colonel, on 25 March 2001, the Prince was appointed to the rank of Major-General in the Land Component and the Air Component and to the rank of Rear-Admiral in the Naval Component. He succeeded his father, who had been Honorary Chairman of the BFTB since 1962, on 3 May 2003, Philippe was appointed Honorary chairman of the board of the Foreign Trade Agency, replacing the BFTB. In this capacity, Philippe has headed more than 60 economic missions, upon his accession as seventh King of the Belgians, this role was taken over by his sister Princess Astrid. King Albert II announced on 3 July 2013 that he would abdicate in favour of Philippe on 21 July 2013, approximately one hour after King Albert IIs abdication, Prince Philippe was sworn in as King of the Belgians. His eldest child, Princess Elisabeth became his heir apparent and is expected to become Belgiums first queen regnant,26 September 1980 –21 March 1983, Belgian Air Force, Second lieutenant. January – end March 1983, Platoon leader, 15th Comp, 3rd Parachutists Battalion of the Paracommando Regt 21 March 1983 –1 December 1989, Belgian Air Force, Captain. 1 December 1989 –5 April 2001, Belgian Air Force, Colonel Belgian Army, since 21 July 2013, Belgian Air Component, General Belgian Land Component, General Belgian Marine Component, Admiral

5.
Heir apparent
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An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. An heir presumptive, by contrast, is someone who is first in line to inherit a title, today these terms most commonly describe heirs to hereditary titles, particularly monarchies. They are also used metaphorically to indicate an anointed successor to any position of power, in France the title was le Dauphin. See crown prince for more examples and this article primarily describes the term heir apparent in a hereditary system regulated by laws of primogeniture—as opposed to cases where a monarch has a say in naming the heir. An heir presumptive, by contrast, can always be bumped down in the succession by the birth of more closely related in a legal sense to the current title-holder. The clearest example occurs in the case of a title-holder with no children, if at any time he or she were to produce children, they rank ahead of whatever more distant relative had been heir presumptive. Many legal systems assume childbirth is always possible regardless of age or health, in such circumstances a person may be, in a practical sense, the heir apparent but still, legally speaking, heir presumptive. Adelaide was 44 at the time, so pregnancy was even if unlikely. Daughters may inherit titles that descend according to male-preference primogeniture, thus, normally, even an only daughter will not be heir apparent, since at any time a brother might be born who, though younger, would assume that position. Hence, she is an heir presumptive, for example, Queen Elizabeth II was heir presumptive during the reign of her father, King George VI, because at any stage up to his death, George could have fathered a legitimate son. In a system of absolute primogeniture that disregards gender, female heirs apparent occur, several European monarchies that have adopted such systems in the last few decades furnish practical examples. Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway is heir apparent to her father, Victoria was not heir apparent from birth, but gained the status in 1980 following a change in the Swedish Act of Succession. Her younger brother Carl Philip was thus heir apparent for a few months, then, as the representative of her fathers line she would assume a place ahead of any more distant relatives. Such a situation has not to date occurred with the English or British throne, several times an heir apparent has died, however, there have been several female heirs apparent to British peerages. In one special case, however, England and Scotland had an heir apparent. William, by contrast, was to reign for life only, thus, although after Marys death William continued to reign, he had no power to beget direct heirs, and Anne became the heir apparent for the remainder of Williams reign. She eventually succeeded him as Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, the position of an heir apparent is normally unshakable, it can be assumed they will inherit. Sometimes, however, extraordinary events—such as the death or the deposition of the parent—intervene

6.
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant
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Crown Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Princess of Belgium, is the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. The eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, she acquired her position after her grandfather King Albert II abdicated in favour of her father on 21 July 2013. The first child of the then Duke and Duchess of Brabant, Elisabeth was delivered by caesarian section at 21,58 pm on 25 October 2001 at the Hôpital Erasme in Anderlecht, Brussels. She was baptized on 9 December 2001 in the chapel of Ciergnon Castle in the Belgian Ardennes, by Cardinal Godfried Danneels and her godparents are Archduke Amedeo of Austria-Este, and Countess Hélène dUdekem dAcoz. She has two brothers, Prince Gabriel and Prince Emmanuel, and a younger sister, Princess Eléonore. This is a significant change in the habits of the royal family, Elisabeth also attends dance classes conducted in Dutch at the Municipal Music Academy in Asse, in Flemish Brabant. Elisabeth speaks Dutch, French and German, in 2006, she attended the Te Deum in honour of Belgian National Day. In 2007, she accompanied her father to the opening of Technopolis and she also attended the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition and the presentation at the Royal Palace of a model of the Belgian Antarctic station which bears her name, Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. She was a bridesmaid to the weddings of her aunts, Elisabeth, when she married Margrave Alfonso Pallavicini in 2006 and Hélène. In 2014, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin and godfather, Prince Amedeo. On 21 July 2013, once her father had taken the oath of office as King of the Belgians, Princess Elisabeth became heir apparent to the throne, in October 2014, Elisabeth gave a speech in honour of the First World War commemoration. On 6 May 2015, Elisabeth made a speech before christening a ship Pollux, if she ascends the throne as expected, she will be Belgiums first queen regnant. Instead the title was abolished, as French Hainaut was not considered linguistically neutral for the title to be conferred on her as the Countess of Hainaut suo jure, the official website of the Belgian Royal Family Belgian Monarchy-Princess Elisabeth Best of Princess Elisabeth

7.
Royal Palace of Brussels
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The Royal Palace of Brussels is the official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians in the centre of the nations capital Brussels. However it is not used as a residence, as the king. The Palace also includes the State Rooms where large receptions are held, the palace is situated in front of Brussels Park. A long square called the Paleizenplein/Place des Palais separates the palace from the park, the middle axis of the park marks both the middle peristyle of the palace and the middle of the facing building on the other side of the park, which is the Palace of the Nation. The two facing buildings are said to symbolize Belgiums system of government, a constitutional monarchy, the first nucleus of the present-day building dates from the end of the 18th century. However, the grounds on which the stands were once part of the Coudenberg Palace a very old palatial complex that dated back to the Middle Ages. The first building on the Coudenberg hill was constructed between the half of the 11th and first half of the 12th century. At that time it looked like a fortified castle forming a part of the fortifications of the city of Brussels. It was the home of the Dukes of Brabant who also resided in the city of Leuven. The Aula Magna, or Throne Room, was built for Philip the Good in the 15th century and it was in this room that the Emperor Charles V abdicated in 1555 in favour of his son Philip II of Spain. This prestigious complex was destroyed by a fire on February 3,1731. The ruins only disappeared when the district was redeveloped after 1775, at that time the urban axes of the present-day Brussels Park were laid out. The Place Royale was built on top of the ruined palace, excavations of the site by different archeological organisations have unearthed various remains of different parts of the Palace as well as the surrounding town. The monumental vaults remaining under the square and its buildings can be visited. The Palace of Charles of Lorraine is now part of the Royal Library of Belgium, the old palace garden was redesigned as a public park. On the other side of the park the middle axis of the park continued as a street between two newly built mansions, one served as the residence of the Abbot of the nearby Coudenberg Abbey, while the other was inhabited by important government members. After the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Brussels became the joint capital of the new established United Kingdom of the Netherlands and it was under the rule of William I of the Netherlands that the street was covered and the two mansions were joined with a gallery. The street running alongside the new palace was widened and thus the Place des Palais or Paleizenplein was created, the new square was called Square of the Palaces in plural, because another palace was built on the left side of the Royal Palace

8.
Royal Castle of Laeken
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The Royal Castle of Laeken is the official residence of the King of the Belgians and the royal family. It lies in the Brussels region,5 km north of the city centre in the Laeken neighbourhood and it sits in a large park called the Royal Domain of Laeken, which is off-limits to the public. Jean-Joseph Chapuis provided the royal furnitures, on 21 July 1803, Nicolas-Jean Rouppe, as commissioner of the department of the Dijle, received Napoleon at the Castle of Laeken. The palace was destroyed by fire in 1890 and was rebuilt by Alphonse Balat. The French architect Charles Girault gave it its present outline in 1902 and it has been the royal residence since the Leopold Is accession to the throne in 1831. The domain also contains the magnificent Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, a set of monumental dome-shaped constructions and they were designed as well by Alphonse Balat, with the cooperation of the young Victor Horta. Upon their accession to the throne in 1993, King Albert II and Queen Paola preferred to remain living at Belvédère, the current occupants of the Castle are King Philippe, Queen Mathilde and their four children. The royal estate is surrounded by a garden, that is protected by a stone wall of several kilometers. The gardens are designed in English style, the vast parks of the Royal Domain include lakes, during the reign of Leopold II they had their major splendor. The king planted tress and was very connected with the designs of his private gardens. In the gardens his only son, the duke of Brabant drowned in a lake, the king had trees planted for his new born children, and still stand in the park. Various pavilions like the Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower, the Chinese Pavilion was commissioned by King Leopold II and now forms part of the Museums of the Far East. The rooms are designed in a chinoiserie Louis XIV and Louis XVI Style and they are decorated with Chinese motifs, chinaware and silverware. The Japanese Tower is a pagoda, originally built for the World Fair of Paris in 1900, today only the king himself and his children use this garden, generally the gardens are closed for the public. Inside the gardens we can find a collection of old plants. Not only the Greenhouses but the garden too is famous for its varieties of animals. In the gardens several living colonies of wild Canadian goose, thousands of cormorants, the gardens are home to one of the biggest colonies of Herons of the country. Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire, built a palace in his hometown of Gbadolite modelled upon the Royal Castle of Laeken, Royal Trust List of castles in Belgium The Royal Castle of Laeken at Visit Brussels

9.
Kingdom of Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie

10.
Politics of Belgium
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Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, the federation is made up of communities and regions. Since around 1970, the significant national Belgian political parties have split into distinct representations for each communities interests besides defense of their ideologies. These parties belong to three main families, though close to the centre, the right-wing Liberals, the social conservative Christian Democrats. Other important newer parties are the Green parties and, nowadays mainly in Flanders, politics is influenced by lobby groups, such as trade unions and employers organizations such as the Federation of Belgian Enterprises. Majority rule is often superseded by a de facto decision making process where the minority enjoy important protections through specialty majorities. The Constitution of Belgium, the source of law and the basis of the political system of the Country, was established on February 7,1831. It has been changed several times, but the most relevant reforms were performed in 1970, in 1993 the parliament approved a constitutional package transforming Belgium into a full-fledged federal state. The King of the Belgians is the head of the Belgian state. The duties of the king are laid out by the Belgian Constitution, as titular head of state, the King plays a ceremonial and symbolic role in the nation. His main political function is to designate a leader to form a new cabinet after an election or the resignation of a cabinet. In conditions where there is a vote of no-confidence, the government has to resign. The King is also seen as playing a symbolic unifying role, philippe succeeded his father Albert II on 21 July 2013 upon his abdication. Members of the Federal Government, who are appointed by the King, are in fact drawn from the political parties which form the government coalition. The Federal Government must enjoy the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives, the total number of Ministers, excluding the Prime Minister, cannot exceed 15. Also, the number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers must be equal, Ministers head executive departments of the government. The Prime Minister and his ministers administer the government and the public services. They rely on a system of revenue-sharing for funds and they have the authority to levy a very few taxes and to contract loans

11.
Constitution of Belgium
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The Constitution of Belgium dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy. The Constitution established Belgium as a unitary state. However, since 1970, through successive state reforms, Belgium has gradually evolved into a federal state, the last radical change of the constitution was carried out in 1993 after which it was published in a renewed version in the Belgian Official Journal. The Court therefore developed into a court and in May 2007 it was formally redesignated Constitutional Court. This court has the authority to examine whether a law or a decree is in compliance with Title II, in 1831 Belgium was a unitary state organised at three levels, the national level, provinces and municipalities. State reform in Belgium added a level to the existing structure. Since 1993, the first article of the Constitution stipulates that Belgium is a state composed of Communities. This means that there are two types of devolved entities at the level, with neither taking precedence over the other. Article 4 divides Belgium into four areas, The Dutch language area, the French language area, the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital. Each municipality of the Kingdom is part of one of four language areas only. The borders of the areas can be changed or corrected only by a law supported by specific majorities of each language group of each Chamber. Article 5 divides the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region into five provinces each, Article 6 determines that the provinces can be subdivided only by Law. The borders of the State, provinces and municipalities can be changed or corrected only by Law, the act inserting this article was published in the Belgian Official Journal on 26 April 2007. Title II of the Belgian Constitution is titled The Belgians and their rights, in this title a number of rights and freedoms are enumerated. Although the Constitution speaks of the rights of the Belgians, in principle apply to all persons on Belgian soil. In addition to the rights enumerated in Title II of the Constitution, Articles 8 and 9 determine how the Belgian nationality can be obtained. Article 10 determines that all Belgians are equal before the law, Article 11 determines that all rights and freedoms must be guaranteed without discrimination

12.
Duchess of Brabant
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For the a Duchess of Brabant suo jure see Duke of Brabant The Duchess of Brabant refers to a woman married to the Duke of Brabant or a Duchess of Brabant suo jure. But this was only as of 1840 when it was revived as a title for the Crown Prince of the newly created Kingdom of Belgium. There have been only three royal duchesses, historically the title went back 657 years before Belgium, and had been always associated with the wives of sovereign Dukes of Brabant, who were alived in their husbands reign. All these Dukes were reigning monarchs and not consorts, also there were the two Co-sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands Isabella and Albert. Before the elevation to a Duchy, Brabant was a Landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire, elevated to a Duchy by Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I. In 1190, after the death of Godfrey III, Henry I also became Duke of Lotharingia, formerly Lower Lotharingia, this title was now practically without territorial authority, but was borne by the later Dukes of Brabant as an honorific title. In 1288, the Duchess of Brabant became also Duchess of Limburg, the title fell to the Duchess of Burgundy in 1430. Later on, it followed with the Burgundian inheritance through the Habsburg dynasty until 1794, after the 15th century the title became one of the many appanages associated with the Queen consorts of Spain and later the Holy Roman Empresses. Queen Sofía of Spain and also the late Crown Princess Regina of Austria also has claims to the title, List of Belgian consorts Duchess of Limburg List of Lotharingian consorts List of Burgundian consorts List of consorts of Luxembourg Countess of Flanders Countess of Hollands

13.
Crown Council of Belgium
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The Crown Council of Belgium is composed of the King of the Belgians, the Ministers and the Ministers of State. The constitutional Monarch chairs the Crown Council, which has no legal competence, the title of Minister of State is given as an honorary title, with no view to any possible Crown Council meeting. None of the living Ministers of State have ever participated in a Crown Council session, during the 2007–08 Belgian government formation though, King Albert II formally asked the help of several Ministers of State with experience in solving political crises. Some political analysts saw this as comparable to the Crown Council, commonly, Ministers of State are appointed to formal offices is the process of forming a government or to solve a cabinet crisis. André Molitor, La Fonction Royale en Belgique, CRISP,1979

14.
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a German dynasty, the line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Due to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I, George V changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg, the same happened in 1920 in Belgium, where it was changed to van de Belgen or des Belges. The first duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was Ernest I, who reigned from 1826 until his death in 1844 and he had previously been Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld from 1806 until the duchy was reorganized in 1826. Ernsts younger brother Leopold became King of the Belgians in 1831, léopolds only daughter, Princess Charlotte of Belgium, was the consort of Maximilian I of Mexico, known as the Empress Carlota of Mexico, in the 1860s. Ernsts nephew Ferdinand married Queen Maria II of Portugal, and his descendants continued to rule Portugal until that became a republic in 1910. Ernest Is second son, Prince Albert, married Queen Victoria in 1840, in 1826, a cadet branch of the house inherited the Hungarian princely estate of Koháry, and converted to Roman Catholicism. Its members managed to marry a princess of Brazil, an archduchess of Austria, a royal princess of the French, a royal princess of Belgium. A scion of this branch, also named Ferdinand, became Prince, and then Tsar, of Bulgaria, according to the House law of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha the full title of the Duke was, There were two official residences, in Gotha and Coburg. Therefore, the ducal court, including the Court Theater, had to move twice a year, from Gotha to Coburg for the summer. For the Court Theater, two almost identical buildings had to be built in 1840 in Gotha and Coburg and thereafter maintained at the same time. In 1893, the duke died childless, whereupon the throne would have devolved, by male primogeniture. However, as heirs to the British throne, Alberts descendants consented, therefore, the German duchy became a secundogeniture, hereditary among the younger princes of the British royal family who belonged to the House of Wettin, and their male-line descendants. Instead of the future Edward VII of the United Kingdom inheriting the duchy, it was diverted to his brother, Prince Alfred. Upon the latters death without surviving sons, it went to the youngest grandson of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, Prince Charles Edward, Charles Edwards uncle Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and his male line had renounced their claim. Although senior by birth, they were not acceptable to the German Emperor as a member of the British military or unwilling to move to Germany. The current head of the branch is Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg. The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry is the Catholic cadet branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and it was founded with the marriage of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, with Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág. In Portugal, the royal house is usually not distinguished from the House of Braganza

15.
Belgian Federal Parliament
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The Belgian Federal Parliament is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate and it sits in the Palace of the Nation. The Chamber of Representatives is the legislative body, the Senate functions only as a meeting place of the federal communities. The Chamber of Representatives holds its meetings in the Palace of the Nation. Eligibility requirements for the Chamber are a minimum age of 21, citizenship, the number of seats in the Chamber is constitutionally set at 150 elected from 11 electoral districts. The districts are divided along lines,5 Flemish,5 Walloon. The districts are the provinces, except for the districts of Leuven, each district is given a number of seats proportional to its population ranging from 4 for Luxembourg to 24 for Antwerp. 7 with language facilities for French-speakers, the current composition was elected at the federal elections of 2014. Since 2014, the Senate consists of 60 members, there are two categories of senators, co-opted senators and senators of community and regional parliaments. The 10 other senators are co-opted, elected by the 50 other senators, eligibility requirements for the Senate are identical to those for the Chamber. Before 2014, the Senate consisted of 71 senators, only 21 of which were elected by the community parliaments,25 were directly elected by the Flemish constituency and 15 by the French-speaking constituency. The last direct election of these 40 members occurred in the 2010 federal elections, the 2014 elections are the first one with the reformed Senate. The President of the Senate is Christine Defraigne as of 2014, the Senate holds its plenary meetings in the Palace of the Nation, Brussels. In certain matters both Chambers have equal power, in this case, the mandatory bicameral procedure applies, which means that both Chambers must pass exactly the same version of the bill. For most other legislation, the Chamber of Representatives takes precedence over the Senate and this means that the Senate may still intervene as a chamber of consideration and reflection. It has the opportunity to, within specific time limits, examine the bills adopted by the Chamber of Representatives and, if there is a reason to do so, the Chamber may subsequently adopt or reject the amendments proposed by the Senate or make new proposals. The Senate can also submit a bill it has adopted to the Chamber, whatever the case, the Chamber has the final word. The one-chamber procedure applies in cases where the Chamber of Representatives has the power to legislate

16.
Senate (Belgium)
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The Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. The 2014 elections were the first ones without an election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is completely composed of members of community and regional parliaments and it is a chamber of the communities and regions and serves as a platform for discussion and reflection about matters between the different language communities. The Senate now only plays a minor role in the federal legislative process. Since the reform, it holds about ten plenary sessions a year. After the Belgian Revolution, the National Congress decided about the Belgian Constitution, a bicameral Parliament was chosen over a unicameral one, due to fears of more democratic and progressive decisions in the Chamber of Representatives, as was seen in France. Thus the Senate served as a conservative and elite body. To be eligible, one had to pay 1000 francs, which meant that at that time, the Flemish nationalist party New Flemish Alliance, among other Flemish parties, said in 2010 that they want to abolish the Senate. The French-speaking parties, however, want to keep the Senate, since the sixth state reform, the Senate consists of 60 members. 50 are elected by the community and regional parliaments, and 10 are co-opted members, prior to the Belgian federal election of May 21,1995, there were 184 elected senators. The change took effect following the May 21,1995 federal election, of the total of 71 elected senators,40 were elected directly,21 appointed by the community parliaments and 10 senators were co-opted. The overall distribution of seats between parties was determined by the results of the direct election. The sixth state reform, taking effect on the May 25,2014 election, reduced the number of senators from 71 to 60, the German-speaking senator is chosen by plurality, the other Senate seats are distributed based on the results for the Chamber of Representatives election. These Community senators hold a double mandate and they are appointed to the Senate for a term of 4 years, but as the Community parliaments are renewed every 5 years, it is possible that regional elections take place during these 4 years. Ten Senators are co-opted, meaning they are elected by their peers, six by the Dutch-language group and these seats are distributed between parties using the direct election results. In 1893, the members were included in the Constitution as a new category of Senators. Until the elections of 25 May 2014, the Senate contained 40 directly elected members, to elect these members, the electorate was divided into two electoral colleges, a Dutch and a French electoral college

17.
Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
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The Chamber of Representatives is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. Article 62 of the Belgian Constitution fixes the number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives at 150, there are 11 electoral districts, which correspond with the ten Provinces and the Brussels-Capital Region. The seats are divided among the parties using the DHondt method of proportional representation. There is a threshold of 5%. The Representatives are divided into two so-called language groups, for the representatives from the Brussels region, the language in which they take their oath as a representative determines which language group they belong to. Following the 2007 federal election, the Chamber has a German-speaking member for the first time since 1999, nevertheless, because of the Belgian constitution, both linguistic communities are granted equal powers in the parliament. Although in general bills can be passed without a majority in both groups, bills relating to specific issues can not and need the consent of both language groups. The following table shows the current distribution of seats between the groups and the electoral districts. A representative can only enter into office after having taken the oath of office and he or she can also choose to take the oath in more than one language. The oath of office is as follows, I swear to observe the Constitution, certain offices are incompatible with the office of representative. The same applies the other way around as well, a representative who takes the oath of office in a regional or community parliament automatically ceases to be a representative. A member of the Chamber of Representatives may not also be a member of the Senate at the same time, another important incompatibility is based on the separation of powers. It is also not possible to be a member of the Federal Parliament, the Chamber of Representatives elects a presiding officer, known as the president, at the beginning of each parliamentary term, which starts on the second Tuesday of October each year. The President is customarily a member of one of the forming the government coalition. The first vice-president is usually a member of the language group than that of the President. The current President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives is Siegfried Bracke of the New Flemish Alliance, to this end, he or she is given considerable powers. He or she represents the Chamber at both the national and the international level

18.
Siegfried Bracke
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Siegfried Bracke is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010, before his political career he had a long career as a journalist, working for the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep. He is a supporter of Orangism, media related to Siegfried Bracke at Wikimedia Commons

19.
Michel Government
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The Michel Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium formed following the 2014 Belgian government formation and sworn in on 11 October 2014. The administration is a coalition of the New Flemish Alliance, the Christian Democratic and Flemish, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. The prime minister is Charles Michel, the government has an agenda of socio-economic reforms, especially through austerity measures, with its priorities being improving Belgiums economic competitiveness and reducing unemployment. The government was sworn in on 11 October 2014, taking the oath of office before King Filip of Belgium, the four parties had a majority in the Chamber of Representatives with 85 members out of 150. On 16 October 2014, the motion of confidence from the Chamber of Representatives was approved by a vote of 84 in favour,58 against, the governments majority was reduced to 83 when two N-VA members left the party in September 2016. The government consists of a coalition of the New Flemish Alliance, Christian Democratic and Flemish, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. It is nicknamed Swedish coalition inasmuch as the party colours yellow and blue, initially the government was also called a kamikaze coalition, inasmuch as the MR is the only French-speaking party in the coalition. For the first time in 25 years, the French-speaking Socialist Party did not become a part of the federal government, despite three parties having been part of the preceding Di Rupo Government as well, the programme of this coalition differs substantially from the previous one. The emphasis is on socio-economic reforms, especially austerity measures. Important goals for the parties include helping businesses become more competitive, the announced measures were met by protests primarily from the labour unions, which argued that the measures favour employers and disproportionately burden employees and families. Instead, the unions organised several regional and national strikes in November and December 2014, the government presided over the arrest of suspects accused of playing a role in the Paris attacks of November 2015, as well as a terrorist attack in Brussels in March 2016. An often recurring subject is whether or not a capital gains tax should be introduced, the Constitution requires an equal number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers. Since MR is the only French-speaking party, it has more ministers than it would otherwise get with its electoral weight, on May 21,2015 the portfolios Urban Policy and fighting Fiscal Fraud were re-allocated between three N-VA members. Urban Policy moved from Jan Jambon to Elke Sleurs, while Sleurs handed over Fiscal Fraud to Johan Van Overtveldt, on September 21,2015 it was announced that minister of Budget Hervé Jamar would resign to become governor of Liège. He was succeeded by Sophie Wilmès, Michel rejected both resignations and the governments composition remained unchanged. Two days later she was replaced by François Bellot, while Tommelein was replacing Turtelboom, he was himself replaced by Philippe De Backer who gave up his position as Member of the European Parliament. Three days later, the N-VA decided to replace Sleurs with Zuhal Demir, Demir was sworn in by the King on 24 February 2017

20.
Prime Minister of Belgium
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The Prime Minister of Belgium or the Premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government in the Kingdom of Belgium. The political importance of the King of the Belgians has decreased over time, since the independence of Belgium in 1830, governments have been designated with the name of the minister who formed the government as formateur, but that position did not have a specific status. The title of Prime Minister or Premier was used for the first time in 1918 in official documents, only in 1970 the title was incorporated in the Belgian Constitution with the first state reform. Gradually, the Head of Cabinet replaced the King more often during the first half of the twentieth century, nevertheless, given his newly acquired prominence, as a member of the cabinet the Head of Cabinet continued to lead a ministerial department. Since then, coalition governments have been necessary, which has made the task of forming a government by the appointed formateur more difficult, consequently, the formateur increasingly gained greater respect, and much prestige. Thus the formateur became prominent as a position of leadership, as the ministers of the government now represented various political parties, there was a need for someone to coordinate the proceedings of the various ministers. The Prime Minister was now asserted as the head of government. Besides coordinating government policies, the Prime Minister is responsible for the execution of the coalition agreement. He also presides at meetings of the Council of Ministers and manages conflicts of competencies between the ministers, in addition, the Prime Minister represents the government coalition in public, both at home and abroad. It is the Prime Minister who maintains contact with the King and he can also ask Parliament for a vote of confidence, which can even lead to the governments resignation in the case of a constructive vote of no confidence. Unless the Prime Minister resigns because of a matter, the whole government resigns when he resigns. The Prime Minister also represents Belgium in the various international organisations, the day after the federal elections, the incumbent Prime Minister offers the resignation of his government to the King. The King then asks the government to continue as a caretaker government until a new government is formed. The King then consults a number of prominent politicians in order to ascertain the different possibilities of forming a government and he usually consults the presidents of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, the most important political parties, and other people of political and socio-economic importance. After the consultations, the King appoints an informateur who is in charge of collecting information from the different political parties about their demands for formation of a new government. After these consultations, the reports to the King so that the King can find a suitable formateur. Usually, it is the formateur of the government who then becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister or Premier is appointed by the King, alongside the other ministers, as the head of government, he is the first to be appointed

21.
Charles Michel
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Charles Yves Jean Ghislaine Michel is a Belgian politician, and is the current Prime Minister of Belgium. He is the son of Louis Michel, also a prominent politician, Charles Michel was the leader of the francophone liberal party Mouvement Réformateur since February 2011 until becoming Prime Minister. Michel is the youngest Belgian Prime Minister since 1845, Michel was born in Namur, Wallonia. Michel started his career aged 16 when he joined the Young Liberals of Jodoigne. In 1994, at the age of 18, Charles Michel was elected councillor in Walloon Brabant. He graduated in law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of Amsterdam in 1998, having studied in Amsterdam, he is fluent in Dutch in addition to his native French. Michel has been elected to the federal Chamber of Representatives since 1999, representing Walloon Brabant, in 2000, he became Minister of Home Affairs in the Walloon Government. Aged 25, he became the youngest minister in Belgiums history, at the local level, he was elected city councillor in Wavre in 2000. In 2006, he became mayor of the city, in December 2007, Michel became the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation in the Verhofstadt III Government and subsequently in the Leterme I, Van Rompuy I and Leterme II governments. In 2009, he declared himself to be shocked by statements of Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms promoted AIDS, calling the statements astounding, scandalous, after the June 2009 regional elections, Michel was part of a group demanding the MR leader Didier Reynders to step down. After the party suffered losses in the June 2010 federal elections. Charles Michel then announced his candidacy for leader of MR, in January 2011 he was elected leader of the Mouvement Réformateur, for which he resigned as Minister for Development Cooperation. Charles Michel and Didier Reynders are longtime rivals within their party, after the 2014 federal elections, Michel became co-formateur in the 2014 Belgian government formation. When CD&V chose the position of European Commissioner for Marianne Thyssen over the position of Prime Minister for Kris Peeters, Michel is the youngest Belgian cabinet leader since 1841 and the youngest ever with the title of Prime Minister of Belgium. He is only the second Francophone liberal to become Prime Minister, Michel is the first French-speaking Prime Minister to succeed another French-speaking Prime Minister in almost 50 years, when Pierre Harmel was succeeded by Paul Vanden Boeynants. Belgium, Grand Officer, Order of Leopold Official website

22.
Constitutional Court of Belgium
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The Constitutional Court plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980 and its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003. Founded as the Court of Arbitration, the court owes its existence to the development of the Belgian unitary state into a federal state, the Court of Arbitration was officially inaugurated in the Belgian Senate on 1 October 1984. On 5 April 1985 it delivered its first judgment, in May 2007, upon a change of the Belgian Constitution, the court was renamed Constitutional Court as this name is more in keeping with the actual jurisdiction of the court. With a special law of 2003, this competence was expanded to the Section II, the Court is therefore developing into a constitutional court. The court has two modi operandi, when the Court decides to annul a law, decree or ordinance it counts erga omnes, for all persons. The second modus operandus of the court are the preliminary issues, when the Court finds a breach of these articles, it will pronounce its decision inter partes, meaning the ruling has effect only between the parties of the specific case. Such a judgement, however, has great value and will force the parliament which made the targeted law. The Court is composed of 12 judges appointed for their lifetime by the King within a list of candidates provided by the federal parliament. The list to fill a vacancy contains two candidates proposed alternately by the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate by a majority of at least two-thirds of the members present. Each linguistic group is composed of three judges with a background and three judges who have had at least five years experience as members of parliament. Candidates must be at least forty years of age, the judges may hold office until they reach seventy years of age, when they retire from the bench. In other words, the law, decree or ordinance must be harmful to the party submitting the appeal, cases can also be heard by the whole Court if either President so decides or if at least two judges of the ordinary panel of seven judges so requests. If cases are heard by the whole Court, the Court cannot rule unless at least 10 judges, in this case, if the votes are equally divided, the President of the Court has a casting vote. The appeal must include the subject of the appeal and must be motivated, the party submitting the appeal can also request that the law, decree or ordinance in question be suspended pending a final ruling by the Court. Communities, regions and provinces of Belgium Constitution of Belgium Judiciary Politics of Belgium Rule According to Higher Law Rule of law Homepage of the Constitutional Court of Belgium

23.
Court of Cassation (Belgium)
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The Court of Cassation is the main court of last resort in Belgium. It was originally modelled after the French Cour de cassation and its jurisdiction and powers are similar to those of its French counterpart. To maintain readability, Dutch terms will be abbreviated as D, the court comprises three chambers with 16 judges. Each chamber in turn has a Dutch and a French division, each chamber has a chief judge, called the President, and two heads of division, one for each language group. The entire court is headed by a judge called the First President. The parket generaal or parquet général is headed by the Chief Prosecutor, the Prosecutor is a magistrate, but does not actually try cases (his role is to give legal advice to the Court, in a similar manner to the Commissioner of the Government of Council of State. He brings cases to the Court in the name of the law, the Chief Prosecutor is aided by the First Prosecutor and about 12 Prosecutors. The lawyers, while not employees of the Court and not technically part of it, with the exception of a few categories of litigation, it is compulsory to use an advocate when referring matters to the Court of Cassation. Lawyers admitted to pleading before this court are known as advocaat bij het Hof van Cassatie or avocat à la Cour de Cassation. The roles of these specialized lawyers includes advising litigants on whether their pleas are admissible, particularly that cassation cases only review points of law, Appeal to the Court of Cassation is only possible against judgements against which no ordinary appeal is possible anymore. This will happen when all normal appeal procedures have been followed, the Court of Cassation can only confirm these judgements, or annul them. It can not examine the case and make a new judgement, the court can annul the entire judgement, or just part of it. If the court annuls a judgement, the case is remitted to a court at the level as the one which judgement was overturned. The decision of the Court of Cassation is not binding, however, the new court may decide the case as it pleases. The decision of the new court may again be appealed to the Court of Cassation, in some cases, it is unclear whether a case should be heard before administrative courts or judiciary courts. In these conflicts of attribution, the Court of Cassation can be asked to decide who has jurisdiction, the Court of Cassation also acts as venue of appeal for jurisdictional judgements of the Court of Audit of Belgium. If the ruling shows a deficit the officer after a procedure the Court of Audit either exonarates the accounting officer or condemns him to make good that amount or part of it. The ruling can be appealed to the Court of Cassation, Court of cassation Council of State Constitutional Court of Belgium Belgian Court of Cassation

24.
Council of State (Belgium)
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Council of State, in Belgium, is an organ of the Belgian government, it is the Supreme Administrative Court of Belgium. Its functions include assisting the executive with legal advice and being the court for administrative justice. Its members are high level jurists, the Council is taking residence in the Palace of the Marquess of Assche built by Alphonse Balat. After World War II the need arose for a Supreme Administrative Court and it does not officially belong to the judiciary, rather, it falls under the jurisdiction of the minister of the interior. Since then, the Belgian Constitution has been amended to include the existence of the Council of State. Article 160 of the Belgian Constitution provides that there is, for all of Belgium, one Council of State, the composition, competence and functioning of which are regulated by law. The organisation and functioning of the Council of State are presently provided for by the laws on the Council of State. The Council of State comprises the council, the office, the coordination office, the registry. The Council is further divided into a Legislative section and an Administrative litigation section, the Council has 44 judges, a first President a President 14 Presidents of Chambers 28 Councillors The judges themselves elect their Presidents. The aforementioned judges are appointed for life by the King out of a list containing three names nominated by the Council of State itself, in this case the Council of State drafts a new list. The Council has its seat at the address, Wetenschapsstraat/rue de la Science 33 in Brussels. The Belgian Council of State was modelled after her French namesake with greatly similar powers. The general principles of Law are principles that are not found in any statute, yet derive from the spirit of the body of law, they are discovered by the Council, of course, both parties may supply supplemental information until the case is ready for final judgment. In some cases, it is whether a case should be heard before administrative courts or judiciary courts. In this case, Court of Cassation decides who has jurisdiction, normative texts coming from the executive power must be submitted for advice in draft form whereas for normative texts originating from a member of parliament, the advice is optional. Constitutional Court of Belgium Court of Cassation Raadvst-Consetat. be Official website Raadvst-consetat. be, Article about the workings of the Council of State

25.
Elections in Belgium
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Elections in Belgium are organised for legislative bodies only, and not for executive functions. Voting is mandatory and all elections use proportional representation which in general requires coalition governments, the method of election, the elected bodies, and the political party system have changed drastically since the founding of Belgium in 1830. At first, there were only municipal, provincial and national elections with few people being able to vote on the national level. Over time, voting rights were extended and eventually made compulsory, in the second half the 20th century, political parties split along linguistic lines and the number of parties increased. Belgium has a multi-party system, with political parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone. Several months before an election, each party forms a list of candidates for each district, parties are allowed to place as many candidates on their ticket as there are seats available. The formation of the list is a process that varies with each party. The place on the list influences the election of a candidate, political campaigns in Belgium are relatively short, lasting only about one month, and there are restrictions on the use of billboards. For all of their activities, campaigns included, the parties have to rely on government subsidies and dues paid by their members. Since no single party holds a majority, after the election the strongest party or party family will usually create a coalition with some of the other parties to form the government. Voting is compulsory in Belgium, more than 90% of the population participates, Belgian voters are given five options when voting. A few weeks before the election, every Belgian older than 18 receives a voting card with the details of where. The voting cards are sent by the administration to all of the municipalitys inhabitants based on the national population register. Voting bureaus are usually in schools, on polling day, always a Sunday, a volunteer at the voting bureau checks the voter in. After taking the electronic identity card and voting card, the volunteer issues a magnetic card to operate the voting machine. After the voter has finished, the volunteer verifies that the card was used to cast a valid vote, then returns the voters ID and voting card. Belgian voters elect 21 members to the European Parliament and this number gradually decreased following the accession of new member states to the European Union, the latest being Croatia in 2013. Direct elections take place since 1979, there are three constituencies, organised by linguistic community, Belgium elects its bicameral federal legislature, the Federal Parliament

26.
European Parliament election, 2004 (Belgium)
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Elections to the European Parliament were held in Belgium on June 13,2004. The elections produced little change in the distribution of seats in the European Parliament among Belgiums many political parties. The two socialist parties improved their vote, while the Green parties lost ground, the Flemish nationalist party the Flemish Bloc registered the largest gains. European Parliament Elections 2004 in Belgium European Elections results shown on Belgian cartogram

27.
European Parliament election, 2009 (Belgium)
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The European Parliament election of 2009 in Belgium was on Sunday 7 June 2009 and was the election of the delegation from Belgium to the European Parliament. The elections were on the day as regional elections to the Flemish Parliament, Walloon Parliament, Brussels Parliament. In practice this means residents will only be able to vote for a party representing the language group of the region. In the capital Brussels, which is bilingual, people can choose either a French- or a Dutch-speaking party list. However, the area surrounding Brussels is part of Dutch-speaking Flanders, but is joined with the Brussels constituency in elections for the European Parliament and this bilingual constituency, Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, has been declared unconstitional and has been a source of controversy for years. Some Dutch-speaking municipalities decided to boycott the EU Parliament election for reason of the unconstitutionality, as in previous elections, Francophone parties campaigned outside of the Francophone area, leading to measures from Flemish authorities. Affligem and Halle are located in Dutch-speaking Flanders but belong to the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency, politicians in Affligem and Halle have objected to French-speaking campaigners in Flanders, and billboard space has been denied by the municipal authorities. In Affligem, French-language posters that had already put up were covered with white paper. The Francophone party Humanist Democratic Centre has condemned it as an attack on the rights of French speakers on the periphery. In Steenokkerzeel, Ternat, and Grimbergen stickers were distributed, to be placed on mailboxes, European Parliament Elections 2009 in Belgium European Elections results shown on Belgian cartogram European Election Results 2009

28.
Belgian federal election, 2007
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The 2007 Belgian federal election took place on Sunday 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to new members for the Chamber of Representatives. Eligible voters were Belgian citizens 18 years and older, the 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from 11 electoral districts. The 40 Senate members were elected from the Dutch and Francophone electoral colleges, of the Flemish parties, the alliance of Christian Democratic and Flemish party and the New-Flemish Alliance received an increased share of the vote from the previous election, held in 2003. The CD&V/N-VA list was headed by Yves Leterme, and became the largest political formation in Belgium, Flemish Interest received more votes than in the previous election, but lost one seat. Was able to return to parliament and newcomers List Dedecker surprised most by immediately grabbing six seats, the day after the election, Verhofstadt handed in the resignation of his government to King Albert II. SP. A leader Johan Vande Lanotte resigned from his position as well that day. The Francophone situation did not mirror its Flemish counterpart, while Verhofstadts Open VLD struggled, its Francophone sister party Mouvement Réformateur managed to defeat the long-dominant Parti Socialiste, although the PS remained strong in Hainaut and Liège. The Humanist Democratic Centre brought in a result as well. The overall outcome of the elections was that the liberal fraction became the largest group in parliament with, followed by the Christian Democrats, the electoral alliance between the Flemish CD&V and N-VA parties became the biggest single parliamentary grouping. Only parties who fielded candidates for the Belgian Senate are listed and these Flemish parties field candidates in the regions of Flanders and the partially bilingual electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. The Christian Democratic and Flemish party is a Christian Democratic party that has formed an alliance with the Flemish nationalist party New-Flemish Alliance, most polls in the run-up to the election suggested that the alliance would win the election and become the largest political force in Flanders. It is led by Yves Leterme, current prime minister of the Flemish Region, having become the largest political party in the Belgian Chamber after the 2007 election, the alliance will become the fulcrum of the coalition talks for a new government. Commentators suggest that coalition talks will be difficult, as most Francophone parties see the alliance as being overly Flemish-dominated and it was the first time that the Flemish Interest had taken part in federal elections under its new name. Ostracized by all political parties because of its views on foreigners and immigration. The VBs lists also included members of the right-liberal Flemish Liberal Independent Tolerant and Transparent party of Hugo Coveliers, the Socialistische Partij Anders is a social-democratic party and has formed a cartel list with the Flemish regionalist and left liberal party Spirit. Like their coalition partner VLD, they lost heavily in the election, Vande Lanotte made it also clear that the alliance will not take part in a federal government whose sole concern is state reform. Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats is the alliance list of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats of prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, the VLD has seen some infighting in the last years, resulting in two prominent members leaving the party, Hugo Coveliers and Jean-Marie Dedecker

29.
Belgian federal election, 2010
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Elections for the Federal Parliament were held in Belgium on 13 June 2010. After the fall of the previous Leterme II Government over the withdrawal of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats from the government the King dissolved the legislature, prime Minister Yves Leterme immediately offered his resignation to King Albert II, who accepted it on 26 April 2010. In contrast, Ghislain Londers, the president of the Court of Cassation declared that all judges are obliged to cooperate with the electoral process. Before the judges letters, former president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Herman De Croo stated that no court could prevent the elections taking place. The international media saw the election as crucial to determine the future of the country and these Flemish parties field candidates in the regions of Flanders and the partially bilingual electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. New Flemish Alliance – centre-right political party, seeking secession of Flanders, Christian Democratic and Flemish – Christian democratic party with historic ties to both trade unionism and corporative organizations. Socialist Party – Differently – social-democratic party, Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats – liberal party. Flemish Interest – seeking the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration and these Francophone parties fielded candidates in the region of Wallonia and in the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. Humanist Democratic Centre – Christian democratic party, Leterme stepped aside on 28 April 2010 and was replaced as leader of CD&V by Marianne Thyssen. Eva Brems, human rights professor at Ghent University and former president of the Flemish division of Amnesty International and she was head of the Chamber list in Flemish Brabant for Groen. As of May 26, it appeared that the development in the election was the surge in popularity of the N-VA in Flanders. Led by Bart De Wever, it supports eventual independence for Flanders, the N-VA replaces the CD&V of outgoing PM Yves Leterme as the most popular party in Flanders. It appeared that the N-VA had attracted some popularity from the ethnic nationalist party, after polls showed the N-VA receiving 29% of votes in their region, media interpreted the election as a victory for Flemish independence. The following tables contain percentages on the national level and these maps depict the largest party in each constituency. Legend, N-VA CD&V sp. a Open VLD MR Legend, on possible coalitions, election winner Bart De Wever announced he would seek negotiations with the Francophone Socialist Party. Coalition formation continued for a record breaking 541 days, with a government under Elio De Rupo eventually being formed on 6 December 2011 after agreement was reached on the 2012 budget. The Di Rupo I Government includes the Liberal, Socialist and Christian Democratic parties from both Flanders and Wallonia, the government excludes the New Flemish Alliance, the Greens of Groen and Ecolo, the right of Vlaams Belang, the Lijst Dedecker and the Peoples Party. Elio Di Rupo is the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979, tractothèque - Electoral posters and leaflets NSD, European Election Database - Belgium publishes regional level election data, allows for comparisons of election results, 1991–2010

30.
Belgian federal election, 2014
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Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippes reign, as part of the state reform adopted 19 December 2013, the date of election will from now on coincide with the European elections, which the Council of the EU has scheduled for 22–25 May 2014. The regional elections in Belgium already legally coincide with the European elections, on 25 April 2014, a declaration to amend the Constitution was adopted, formally dissolving parliament and triggering new elections within 40 days. The previous 2010 election resulted in a victory for Flemish nationalist N-VA, the coalition formation stalemate went on for a record-breaking 541 days. Eventually, the parties agreed upon a sixth Belgian state reform. The Senate will no longer be directly elected, the term length will be increased from 4 years to 5 years, and the election will always coincide with the European Parliament election. The campaign topics largely focused on reforms, job creation and unemployment, tax reform. This campaign also featured a level of quantified programmes by political parties. For example, the N-VA released its V plan and CD&V its 3D plan, one week before the election day, former CD&V Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene suddenly died while in France. Several debates were cancelled, and CD&V as well as all other Flemish parties suspended their campaign for a few days, on 24 May, the day before the elections, a shooting occurred at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels, with three people reported dead. Self-described anti-Zionist MP Laurent Louis suggested that the attack could be a false flag operation seeking to discredit him, in the Chamber of Representatives, the Peoples Party and Libertarian, Direct, Democratic each also won one seat. During the legislation, the Francophone Democratic Federalists separated from the MR party and are now represented in the Chamber with 3 representatives, the PP Member of Parliament left the party and became an independent. One Vlaams Belang member of the Chamber and one Vlaams Belang member of the Senate left their party, thus, currently the ten major parties are represented in both the Chamber and the Senate, in addition, LDD and FDF are represented in the Chamber of Representatives. However, most of the parties only operate in the Dutch-speaking or in the French-speaking constituencies. Voters who live in the provinces of Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg or West Flanders can only vote for CD&V, Groen, N-VA, Open VLD, sp. Therefore, the CSP politicians are on the cdH list, the Ecolo ones on the Ecolo list, PFF on the MR list, the other German-speaking parties do not present a list due to their marginal chance of getting a seat in Parliament. In the constituency of Brussels-Capital, Ecolo and Groen formed one list under the name Ecolo, CD&V, N-VA, Open Vld, sp. a and Vlaams Belang will each present a single list

Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official

1.
The Utrecht baptismal vow Forsachistu diobolae...

2.
Distribution of the Dutch language and its dialects in Western Europe

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Second edition of this column decorated with a title of Charles V 's portrait, with archaic Dutch inscriptions

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Dutch language street sign in the Netherlands

French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and

1.
The "arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.

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Regions where French is the main language

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Town sign in Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya in Lebanon.

Coat of arms of Belgium
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The coat of arms of Belgium bears a lion or, known as Leo Belgicus, as its charge. A royal decree of 17 March 1837 determines the achievement to be used in the greater, the shield is emblazoned, Sable, a lion rampant or, armed and langued gules. It is surmounted by a helmet with raised visor, with mantling or and sable, behind the shield are placed

1.
Greater version

Philippe of Belgium
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Philippe is the seventh king of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013, following his fathers abdication. He is the eldest child of King Albert II, whom he succeeded upon Alberts abdication for health reasons and he married Countess Mathilde dUdekem dAcoz, with whom he has four children. King Philippes elder daughter, Princess Eli

1.
Philippe / Filip

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King Philippe and Queen Mathilde wave to the crowds in Brussels after Philippe's swearing in as new Belgian monarch.

3.
Royal Military Acad.

Heir apparent
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An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. An heir presumptive, by contrast, is someone who is first in line to inherit a title, today these terms most commonly describe heirs to hereditary titles, particularly monarchies. They are also

1.
Throngs before the Imperial Palace in Japan awaiting the appearance of the Crown Prince Hirohito for the recent proclamation of his official recognition as the heir apparent to the Japanese Imperial Throne – New York Times, 1916.

Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant
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Crown Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Princess of Belgium, is the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. The eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, she acquired her position after her grandfather King Albert II abdicated in favour of her father on 21 July 2013. The first child of the then Duke and Duchess of Brabant, Elisabeth was

1.
Princess Elisabeth in 2014

Royal Palace of Brussels
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The Royal Palace of Brussels is the official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians in the centre of the nations capital Brussels. However it is not used as a residence, as the king. The Palace also includes the State Rooms where large receptions are held, the palace is situated in front of Brussels Park. A long square called the Paleizenplei

1.
Main façade of the Royal Palace of Brussels (constructed 1904)

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The Palace of Coudenberg from a 17th-century painting

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The façade prior to the 1900 refurbishing

Royal Castle of Laeken
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The Royal Castle of Laeken is the official residence of the King of the Belgians and the royal family. It lies in the Brussels region,5 km north of the city centre in the Laeken neighbourhood and it sits in a large park called the Royal Domain of Laeken, which is off-limits to the public. Jean-Joseph Chapuis provided the royal furnitures, on 21 Jul

Kingdom of Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers w

Politics of Belgium
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Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, the federation is made up of communities and regions. Since around 1970, the significant national Belgian political parties have split into distinct representat

1.
Kingdom of Belgium

Constitution of Belgium
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The Constitution of Belgium dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy. The Constitution established Belgium as a unitary state. However, since 1970, through successive state reforms, Belgium has gradually evolved into a federal state, the last radic

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Constitution of 1831 depicted on a Belgian coin, guarded by the Belgian lion.

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The four sitting statues on the pedestal of the Congress Column represent the four basic freedoms enshrined in the Belgian Constitution of 1831: the freedom of religion, association, education and the press.

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The Palace of the Nation in Brussels houses the Belgian Federal Parliament

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Article 85 of the Belgian Constitution vests the King's constitutional powers in the offspring of Leopold I.

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Sculptural busts of the first five Belgian monarchs in the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces

2.
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Duchess of Brabant
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For the a Duchess of Brabant suo jure see Duke of Brabant The Duchess of Brabant refers to a woman married to the Duke of Brabant or a Duchess of Brabant suo jure. But this was only as of 1840 when it was revived as a title for the Crown Prince of the newly created Kingdom of Belgium. There have been only three royal duchesses, historically the tit

1.
Mathilde of Flanders

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The Coat of arms of the Duchess of Brabant.

3.
Sophie of Thuringia

4.
Adelaide of Burgundy

Crown Council of Belgium
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The Crown Council of Belgium is composed of the King of the Belgians, the Ministers and the Ministers of State. The constitutional Monarch chairs the Crown Council, which has no legal competence, the title of Minister of State is given as an honorary title, with no view to any possible Crown Council meeting. None of the living Ministers of State ha

1.
Kingdom of Belgium

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a German dynasty, the line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Due to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I, George V changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg, the same happened in 1920 in Belgium, where it was c

1.
Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1943), head of the ducal branch

2.
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

3.
Veste Coburg, ancestral seat of the House of Saxe-Coburg

4.
Ehrenburg Palace, Coburg (summer residence)

Belgian Federal Parliament
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The Belgian Federal Parliament is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate and it sits in the Palace of the Nation. The Chamber of Representatives is the legislative body, the Senate functions only as a meeting place of the federal communities. The Chamber of Representatives holds its meeting

1.
Federaal Parlement van België (Dutch)

2.
Emblem of the Chamber of Representatives

Senate (Belgium)
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The Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. The 2014 elections were the first ones without an election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is completely composed of members of community and regional

3.
The Palace of the Nation in Brussels, home to both Chambers of the Federal Parliament of Belgium

4.
Seat of the presiding officers of the senate

Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
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The Chamber of Representatives is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. Article 62 of the Belgian Constitution fixes the number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives at 150, there are 11 electoral districts, which correspon

2.
Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers (Dutch)

3.
The Palace of the Nation in Brussels, home to both Chambers of the Federal Parliament of Belgium

Siegfried Bracke
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Siegfried Bracke is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010, before his political career he had a long career as a journalist, working for the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep. He is a supporter of Orangism, media related to Siegfried Bracke at Wikimedia Commo

1.
Siegfried Bracke

Michel Government
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The Michel Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium formed following the 2014 Belgian government formation and sworn in on 11 October 2014. The administration is a coalition of the New Flemish Alliance, the Christian Democratic and Flemish, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. The prime minister is Charles Michel, the governmen

1.
Michel Government

2.
The government's nickname, the "Swedish coalition", refers to the flag of Sweden (pictured)

Prime Minister of Belgium
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The Prime Minister of Belgium or the Premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government in the Kingdom of Belgium. The political importance of the King of the Belgians has decreased over time, since the independence of Belgium in 1830, governments have been designated with the name of the minister who formed the government as formateur, but t

1.
Incumbent Charles Michel since 11 October 2014

Charles Michel
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Charles Yves Jean Ghislaine Michel is a Belgian politician, and is the current Prime Minister of Belgium. He is the son of Louis Michel, also a prominent politician, Charles Michel was the leader of the francophone liberal party Mouvement Réformateur since February 2011 until becoming Prime Minister. Michel is the youngest Belgian Prime Minister si

1.
Charles Michel

Constitutional Court of Belgium
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The Constitutional Court plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980 and its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003. Founded as the Court of Arbitration, the court owes its existence to the development of the Belgian unitary state into a federal state, the Court of Arbitration was officially

1.
Kingdom of Belgium

Court of Cassation (Belgium)
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The Court of Cassation is the main court of last resort in Belgium. It was originally modelled after the French Cour de cassation and its jurisdiction and powers are similar to those of its French counterpart. To maintain readability, Dutch terms will be abbreviated as D, the court comprises three chambers with 16 judges. Each chamber in turn has a

1.
Jean-Louis van Dievoet (1777-1854), who was the first Secretary of the Court of Cassation of Belgium, after the independence.

Council of State (Belgium)
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Council of State, in Belgium, is an organ of the Belgian government, it is the Supreme Administrative Court of Belgium. Its functions include assisting the executive with legal advice and being the court for administrative justice. Its members are high level jurists, the Council is taking residence in the Palace of the Marquess of Assche built by A

1.
Kingdom of Belgium

Elections in Belgium
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Elections in Belgium are organised for legislative bodies only, and not for executive functions. Voting is mandatory and all elections use proportional representation which in general requires coalition governments, the method of election, the elected bodies, and the political party system have changed drastically since the founding of Belgium in 1

1.
Kingdom of Belgium

European Parliament election, 2004 (Belgium)
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Elections to the European Parliament were held in Belgium on June 13,2004. The elections produced little change in the distribution of seats in the European Parliament among Belgiums many political parties. The two socialist parties improved their vote, while the Green parties lost ground, the Flemish nationalist party the Flemish Bloc registered t

1.
24 seats to the European Parliament

European Parliament election, 2009 (Belgium)
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The European Parliament election of 2009 in Belgium was on Sunday 7 June 2009 and was the election of the delegation from Belgium to the European Parliament. The elections were on the day as regional elections to the Flemish Parliament, Walloon Parliament, Brussels Parliament. In practice this means residents will only be able to vote for a party r

Belgian federal election, 2007
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The 2007 Belgian federal election took place on Sunday 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to new members for the Chamber of Representatives. Eligible voters were Belgian citizens 18 years and older, the 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from 11 electoral districts. The 40 Senate members were elected from the Du

1.
All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 40 of 71 seats in the Senate respectively 76 and 36 seats needed for a majority

Belgian federal election, 2010
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Elections for the Federal Parliament were held in Belgium on 13 June 2010. After the fall of the previous Leterme II Government over the withdrawal of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats from the government the King dissolved the legislature, prime Minister Yves Leterme immediately offered his resignation to King Albert II, who accepted it on 26 Ap

1.
All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 40 of 71 seats in the Senate respectively 76 and 36 seats needed for a majority

Belgian federal election, 2014
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Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippes reign, as part of the state reform adopted 19 December 2013, the date of election will from n

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All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority

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Louis-Philippe I, King of the French. The King is depicted at the entrance of the Gallerie des batailles which he had furnished in the Château de Versailles.

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Flag

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Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution of 1830. The child with two pistols to the right of Liberty (who holds the tricolor flag) would be Victor Hugo 's inspiration for Gavroche in Les Misérables. [citation needed]